‘Any problems with difficult clients?’
‘Rarely. On the first meeting with a new client, I have a man who takes them to the meeting and brings them back. The woman also has a panic button if there’s an issue. It’s happened once in the last three years.’
‘Charles Sutherland, what else can you tell me about him?’
‘Not a lot. I never met the man.’
‘I need to contact the women.’
‘I can’t let you do that. They do their job, go home. Their private lives are sacrosanct.’
‘At this present time, we regard Charles Sutherland’s death as a possible murder. I could get a court order ‒ even a police car to deliver it to their front door on a Saturday morning, flashing light as well.’
‘I understand.’ She came forward, touched him on the knee. He felt a tingling sensation go through his body. ‘Is there an alternative?’ she asked.
‘I could meet them at a neutral location, but I’m not sure how I can keep them out of the limelight indefinitely, especially if there is a murder trial.’
‘I will set it up. Give me a couple of days. One of the women has a husband and two children. She does it for them. Don’t you think they will be harmed if her activities are revealed?’
‘I will do all I can to keep her and the other woman out of the courts and the news,’ Farhan said.
***
Isaac needed an update on how Charles Sutherland came to be sprawled naked on the floor of a hotel room. Gordon Windsor, the crime scene examiner, had alluded to a suspicious death.
Isaac knew that the suspicious death of a celebrity would require a full autopsy. He also knew that would take time, weeks possibly. An interim evaluation and the entire Murder Investigation Team could be mobilised. Gordon Windsor was his best bet for an update. He phoned him.
‘I’ll be in your office in an hour,’ the man replied.
In one hour, almost to the minute, he walked into the room. He was as Isaac remembered him at the crime scene, only this time he was dressed in a suit, his hair combed over to hide a bald spot.
‘Gordon, give us the facts without the jargon,’ Isaac said. Farhan was also in the office.
‘The poison was administered in a drink,’ Windsor said.
‘Any sign of drugs?’ Farhan asked.
‘Cocaine, but it did not kill him. There was more alcohol than drugs in his system.’
‘What type of poison?’ Isaac asked.
‘Arsenic. It’s tasteless, odourless, and colourless. It was used to kill rats in the past.’
‘Is it a subtle method of killing a person without it being discovered?’ Farhan asked.
‘Subtle, yes. The risk of it being discovered is minimal.’
‘But you found it?’
‘The toxicologist did. Mind you, that’s only the initial analysis of the bottle found at the scene. How much was in his body, and whether it was the sole cause of death, will not be known until the autopsy report comes in.’
‘Then it’s a murder investigation?’ Farhan asked.
‘Unless advised to the contrary, that would be correct,’ Gordon Windsor replied. ‘They used to call it the inheritor’s powder.’
‘What do you mean?’ Isaac asked.
‘Favoured poison of women in the nineteenth century. Sprinkled in small amounts on the husband’s food over a period of time and a guaranteed death, totally undetectable.’
‘And today?’
‘Forensics will pick it up. Only one issue, though.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Normally a person cannot be killed with a single dose.’
‘Why?’
‘A sufficient dose usually causes the person to vomit.’
‘But you consider it murder?’
‘Vomiting is not automatic. If he had been drunk and spaced-out, he might have kept it down for long enough.’
‘Are you indicating the murderer may not have known this?’ Isaac asked.
‘It seems possible, but they must have known that a well-known celebrity found dead in a famous hotel and in apparently good health would be subject to an autopsy.’
‘Would they?’ Isaac put the possibility forward.
Gordon Windsor thought for a moment. ‘If it was a professional hit, they would have known.’
‘Are you saying this was not a professional assassination?’ Farhan asked.
‘I’m purely the scientist here. You are the detectives. What I am saying is, that if they were professional, they would have known there would be an autopsy.’
‘And they would not have left a bottle in the kitchen with the poison in it,’ Isaac said.
‘Precisely, unless they were disturbed, but even that appears unlikely. Professionals don’t put bottles in kitchen sinks in the first place. Normally, it would be coat pocket to drink and then back to coat pocket.’
Gordon Windsor left the office soon after.
Both Isaac and Farhan left a little later. It was five in the afternoon. Neither would be having an early night. Isaac, so far, had not caught up with Sophie, and he was feeling in need of her. Farhan also felt the need, but he had no Sophie; in fact, no one except an empty house.
A Chinese restaurant close to the police station provided dinner. Prawn chow mein for Isaac; chicken for Farhan.
‘We’ve assumed his death was related to Marjorie Frobisher,’ Isaac said on their return to the office. ‘Is that an assumption we can make?’
‘What other option do we have?’ Farhan replied.
‘Which brings up another question. If Charles Sutherland was murdered to prevent him saying something to this magazine, then who else knows something? Is anyone else targeted for elimination?’
‘How do we know?’ Farhan replied. ‘We only have assumptions.’
‘Farhan, you’re right,’ Isaac said. ‘I’ve still to meet up with Richard Williams. It is possible that he knows something.’
They were a good team, able
